The present invention relates to foundry equipment for making molds, and more particularly to a flaskless mold-making machine capable of making cope molds and drag molds simultaneously and also capable of applying a pre-jolt and a jolt-squeeze to both of the mold sections. Further, the machine constructed according to the present invention moves the cope and drag mold sections into vertical alignment with each other and strips them from the flasks, returning the flasks for use in making succeeding molds.
In the foundry industry, various machines for manufacturing molds are known. These devices generally include an overhead supply of molding sand, a chute for delivering the sand in premeasured quantities into a mold flask, and some means for compacting the sand in the mold. Also associated with these machines is a device for extracting or stripping finished molds from the flasks in which they were formed and positioning the completed mold ready for the next operation.
In a matchplate mold-making machine the mold is formed by performing the following steps. First, the matchplate is inverted so that the drag side is facing up. Sand is poured into a flask whose bottom is formed by the drag portion of the matchplate. This sand is then pre-jolted and jolt-squeezed to form the drag section of the mold. The pre-jolt and jolt-squeeze may be accomplished by using known devices such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,118 or other similar arrangements.
When the drag mold section has been formed the matchplate with the drag section connected with it is turned right side up and sand is poured into the cope side where it is squeezed to form the cope section of the mold. It is not practical to both pre-jolt the cope section of the mold and jolt-squeeze the cope section in practice for a number of reasons. In fact, applicant knows of no matchplate machine which both pre-jolts and jolt-squeezes the cope.
Known mold-making macines may be distiguished on the basis of the number of flasks used in the mold-making process. One type utilizes a large number of flasks in which the sand is poured to form a mold. In machines of this type, one flask from the supply of flasks is fed into the machine where it is filled with sand, and then the flask and sand together are moved to the next operation. Eventually, the mold is stripped from the flask and the flask is returned to the supply.
A second type of mold-making equipment is called flaskless because it does not utilize a large supply of flasks. Instead, the same flask is used to make each mold. In a machine of this type the flask is filled with sand, and the sand is compacted to form a mold. Thereafter, the completed mold is extracted from the flask and the mold alone sent on for further processing. The flask, however, is returned immediately to be refilled with sand to make the next mold.
In addition, mold-making machines are known which sequentially form cope and drag molds, and then assemble them at an assembly station. Moreover, it is also known to form cope and drag mold sections in a separate apparatus and then to assemble them in an assembly apparatus.